[269] Besides which it is said (Paul. Lang. Chronicon Cilicense) to have produced not less than 500,000 gold florins; the order of the Franciscans alone, whose general was made a cardinal, paid 30,000. For a notice of the various sums paid, see Sanuto, xxiv. fol. 227; for the whole subject see Gregorovius, viii. 214 sqq.
[270] Franc. Vettori, l.c. p. 301. Arch. Stor. Append. i. p. 293 sqq. Roscoe, Leone X. ed. Bossi, vi. p. 232 sqq. Tommaso Gar, l. c. p. 42.
[271] Ariosto, Sat. vi. v. 106. ‘Tutti morrete, ed è fatal che muoja Leone appresso.’ Sat. 3 and 7 ridicule the hangers on at Leo’s Court.
[272] One of several instances of such combinations is given in the Lettere dei Principi, i. 65, in a despatch of the Cardinal Bibbiena from Paris of the year 1518.
[273] Franc. Vettori, l.c. p. 333.
[274] At the time of the Lateran Council, in 1512, Pico wrote an address: J. E. P. Oratio ad Leonem X. et Concilium Lateranense de Reformandis Ecclesiæ Moribus (ed. Hagenau, 1512, frequently printed in editions of his works). The address was dedicated to Pirckheimer and was again sent to him in 1517. Comp. Vir. Doct. Epist. ad Pirck., ed. Freytag, Leipz. 1838, p. 8. Pico fears that under Leo evil may definitely triumph over good, ‘et in te bellum a nostræ religionis hostibus ante audias geri quam pariri.’
[275] Lettere dei Principi, i. (Rome. 17th March, 1523): ‘This city stands on a needle’s point, and God grant that we are not soon driven to Avignon or to the end of the Ocean. I foresee the early fall of this spiritual monarchy.... Unless God helps us we are lost.’ Whether Adrian were really poisoned or not, cannot be gathered with certainty from Blas Ortiz, Itinerar. Hadriani (Baluz. Miscell. ed. Mansi, i. p. 386 sqq.); the worst of it was that everybody believed it.
[276] Negro, l.c. on Oct. 24 (should be Sept.) and Nov. 9, 1526, April 11, 1527. It is true that he found admirers and flatterers. The dialogue of Petrus Alcyonus ‘De Exilio’ was written in his praise, shortly before he became Pope.
[277] Varchi, Stor. Fiorent. i. 43, 46 sqq.
[278] Paul. Jov., Vita Pomp. Columnae.